Sunday, January 1, 2012

Busting the Newbie Blues is back!

Welcome to the second Busting the Newbie Blues event!

Starting out as a new YA book blogger is a ton of fun. You meet a bunch of new people who all share in your passion for YA books, you become a part of a friendly community, and you're continually exposed to wonderful new books.

But sometimes things can be a little discouraging when you're just starting out. You look at your blog and then look at some of the awesome established bloggers out there and wonder if you'll ever make the grade.

So here's to Busting the Newbie Blues! Don't be discouraged. Instead, take action! Participate in my Busting the Newbie Blues event, which will run through the entire month of January!

Last year's Busting the Newbie Blues was a big success! Almost all of my "daily read" blogs are run by people I met through this event. I thoroughly busted my newbie blues last year, and now I can't wait to pay it forward to a new year of newbies.

This event is designed to:

Put new YA book bloggers on the map

Increase blogger interaction

Start a discussion by sharing our experiences as new bloggers

Learn about what it was like for established bloggers when they were newbies

So how does this work? Simple:

Be a YA book blogger (oldie or newbie)

Select the questionnaire that best applies to you (there's no "wrong" choice, so just pick whichever one you feel most comfortable answering)

Create a post on your blog with the questions and your answers

Grab the button below to include in your post or sidebar

Link back to my post here so more people can join in

Sign the linky list below so we can all come and visit your blog!

Spread the word!

Try to visit as many blogs as you can. Take a look at their answers, but also check out a bunch of their other posts (try for 5?) and leave comments. If you like their blog, follow them! If someone follows you, then take a look at their blog and follow back if you like what you see.

I will also have Busting the Newbie Blues posts scattered throughout the month that will include things like blogging tips and tricks, discussions, and responses to your blogging questions (including the most frequently asked question--how do you get ARCs?!).

This event will run through the entire month of January, so bookmark this post and check back to ensure you'll be included in all the fun as new bloggers add their posts to the list. I can't wait to see all your responses and blogs! I hope everyone has fun. :)

Questionnaires:

New Bloggers:

Pick this questionnaire if you if you feel you're still getting your "blogging legs" and could use some advice and awareness brought to your blog, whether you're a brand new blogger or even if you've been blogging for over a year.

When did you start your blog?

Why did you start your blog?

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

What do you find most discouraging about being a new blogger?

What do you find most encouraging?

What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?

What do you dislike about blogs you’ve read? Do you try to avoid this?

Any advice for other new bloggers?

Any questions you'd like to ask newbie or established bloggers?

Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your blog? Feel free to link a few of your favorite posts or posts you wish had more comments.

Established Bloggers:

Pick this questionnaire if you've been blogging for a while, have a decent sized group of followers and people commenting on your posts, and get a decent amount of traffic. Basically, you have some experience blogging and you've seen positive results for your efforts. You can define "decent" however you'd like.

When did you start your blog?

Do you ever still feel like a newbie?

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? Did you make any mistakes new bloggers can learn from?

What did you find most discouraging about being a new blogger? How did you deal with this?

What do you find most encouraging?

If you could go back in time and speak with your newbie self, what five bits of wisdom would you tell yourself?

What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?

What do you dislike about blogs you’ve seen? Do you try to avoid this?

How did you bring your blog to the attention of so many people?

When and how did you get your first ARC (or first few ARCs)?

I hope you have fun! I look forward to reading all your responses, seeing how last year's newbies have grown, and meeting new blogging friends!

Yup, Ruby and I met through last year's Busting the Newbie Blues event. Is that not a fantastic endorsement to the potential awesome you can get through Busting the Newbie Blues?

Ruby and I loved working together so much that we decided to join forces once again! While I'll be hosting Busting the Newbie Blues, Ruby will be hosting a version for oldie bloggers called Busting the Big Blogger Blues! What is this sister event? I'll let Ruby explain:

Basically, Bx4 is designed to help more established bloggers with the struggles that come a bit later in the game. I don't know about you, but I have plenty of trouble with scheduling, managing my review pile, and making sure I comment on other blogs, and I'd welcome any advice I can get.

Even though this event is tailored for oldie bloggers, I think newbies should be able to gain a lot from it as well. I know I'll be checking it out for myself (because my review pile? Um, yeah, I let that get WAY out of control! Oops!).

This is going to be my first year participating in Busting the Newbie Blues! And oh my gosh, this is like the most perfect thing ever. I've been waiting for something like this to pop up and now I've found it! YAY! :D

Gina, No, for some reason blogger put your post into the spam folder. I removed it from spam, so it should show up now. Every once in a while that seems to happen for no good reason. I'm so glad you'll be participating again. Your blog is one of my absolute favorites because your reviews are so well written and informative.

Woo! I'm excited to be participating again. Looking back, it really is crazy how many blogs and new friends I found through last year's event and still read and comment on regularly. My blogging experience would have been so different, and probably more lonely, without it. So thanks :)

@Small - Seriously! I felt so lost and outside of the cool kids' table until this event. If anything else, it gave me a community of newbs to connect with so I didn't feel like an intruder. So many folks I read now I met through you!

Looking back, I'm not really sure how I found the time to go around to every blog and comment on multiple posts. I'm impressed with myself. I won't have as much time this time around, but I'm still hoping to meet a bunch of new bloggers!

Hey all! So, I'm a newbie book blogger and I would LOVE to participate in this event. But I'm a little held back. Why? Well, you ask for YA book bloggers. I do review some YA but not all (I'm new to reading the genre, you see). I'm an eclectic reader who sort of bobbles around the genres at a whim. So my question is... can I still participate even though I'm not an YA exclusive blogger? Answers much appreciated and thanks for hosting - this is such a great idea!

Thanks so much for this feature! I started participating on my personal blog a couple weeks ago, but I decided instead of converting my personal blog into a book blog, I wanted to make a whole new blog. It just went live a couple of days ago, so I just did the survey again for the new blog. I've been following your blog and I really appreciate all the tips and tricks and advice that you've been giving - they really help, and it's so nice to know that there are people like you who care about us newbies! Thank you so much!

HII just realized that I accidentally didn't put a direct link to my Busting the Newbies Blues post. Since you should be able to read each participating blog's response, I am going to give you the link here in comments.I am extremely sorry about that.Thanks for creating this event. :)Rachel http://unforgetablebooks.blogspot.com/2012/01/busting-newbie-blues.html